A CHRONIC asthma sufferer believes his life-long condition has been cured - thanks to a nurse who helped New York's firefighters breathe again after the September 11 outrage.

Steve Moss, 53, says he has not had to use the asthma drugs he relied on for years since he learned some simple breathing exercises from Glaswegian nurse Jill McGowan.

She won a Pride of Britain award - which celebrates outstanding achievements of ordinary people - after treating fire crews affected by the huge dust clouds following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre.

Now Steve wants to share the treatment's benefits with other people and is inviting asthma sufferers to meet Jill, who is visiting Greater Manchester this week.

He said: "My condition was so severe that sometimes I used to struggle to walk, but now I go to the gym and can run a mile.

"I used to have to take lots of drugs, but I don't take any at all now and I've never felt better."

Father-of-two Steve, who lives in Grasscroft, Saddleworth, near Oldham, says his bronchial asthma meant he had to spend many months off work.

But then he saw former asthma nurse Jill, who once also suffered from the condition, receiving an award on television.

She described her success with the new treatment, which is called Buteyko, and is designed to retrain sufferers' breathing.

It is based on the work of Professor Konstantin Buteyko from Russia and practitioners claim it is effective in more than 90 per cent of asthma cases.

Mother-of-two Jill set up the Buteyko Institute Trust and raised £55,000 by selling her home and donating three-quarters of her £30,000 salary for two years.

A pilot study resulted in a 96 per cent success rate and huge reductions in sufferers' use of medication. Steve went to one of Jill's therapy workshops and was amazed by the results he experienced.

He said: "It's truly amazing. This is the first winter that I've had no time off for sickness and I feel fantastic."

Jill has been visiting the Avant Hotel in Oldham to talk to people about Buteyko.

And she is holding a four-day course at the hotel this week.

Jill told the M.E.N: "This is the closest thing we have to a cure for asthma. It gives people the choice to carry on taking medication or alleviate the symptoms by doing breathing exercises.

"It has helped all kinds of people and has helped one little girl to blow out the candles on her birthday cake for the first time."

Anyone who wants information about the course should call Steve on 07890 110541 or Jill on 07973 763422.